Corinne Austin | Personal Training

Exercise Should be Fun & Enjoyable

Exercise, fitness, running, bootcamp, yoga, huffy-puffy, pumping iron – no matter what name you put to it, many of us are still putting it off.  We don’t do it.  We make excuses. We avoid it like the plague.  We think of every reason under the sun why we can’t fit it in.  We have mixed feelings about it.  We don’t understand why we should do it.  We just don’t go there.  We’re just not doing it.

And the not doing it is unhealthy – not just for you but for everybody around you too.   Exercise, physical activity, and movement is something our bodies now need more than anything else.  We have become stationary beings rather than physical beings.  We have become dormant, inert, and unmotivated.  We have these amazingly complex and mechanical bodies that we are becoming less attuned with – and we are missing out on the great amount of physical and physiological potential within us.  Movement is the medicine of life, and if we all moved more, we’d experience so many more health benefits, we’d cope with stress better, we’d have fewer injuries and niggles, and we’d just be happier beings – plain and simple.  Motion creates emotion – it enables our minds to reminisce with an overall happier state of being.

So, why aren’t we moving?  Why don’t we exercise enough?  I think one of the main reasons we don’t prioritise exercise is that we don’t enjoy it.  Exercise has become a sport in its own right – everything is about being bigger or better or stronger or faster.  And many of us aren’t attracted to those outcomes or benefits; we don’t consider them necessary to our happiness or our survival, so we don’t do it.  I know many people that complain about not having enough time to exercise. I think it’s more that they do have the time, but they only wish to prioritise things they enjoy and will benefit from in that time. If you don’t like exercising the way that you have been lead to believe you should, then it’s highly likely you won’t do it.

If you have to force yourself to do it, then there is a 90% chance that you are doing it wrong and that you won’t stick to it for very long.  We are all completely different in what we like and dislike, what we enjoy and what we don’t.   If you are one of the people who really loathes the thought of exercising, change the way you approach exercise, or change the type of exercise you are doing.  Stop falling into what is called the ‘Happiness Paradox’ trap – instead of doing the things you think you should do, do the things that make you smile, make you laugh, ground you, excite you, and that just generally feel good.  Now there’s a winning recipe for success!  There are oodles and oodles of options out there these days, go and find the things that make you buzz, and that make you come alive.  Gain back that zest for life!

 

Here’s some tips to make exercise something you actually want to do:

  1. Make it a Habit – Once it’s something you do regularly, it’ll stick.
  2. Find a Buddy – Someone with similar goals to drag you out when you’re feeling unmotivated.
  3. Find Your Intensity Level –Your goal is to find an exercise modality that makes you feel great, and that you can feel the immediate benefits of.
  4. Get Past Your Comfort Zone – Whatever this may be in your own head, strive on occasion to push past it. It’s amazingly satisfying.
  5. Experiment – Boredom will make you lose interest, so be sure to mix things up by adding spice and variety regularly too.
  6. Short Workouts – Don’t have time or enthusiasm to last an hour? Just go for twenty or thirty minutes – the movement will do you wonders.
  7. Make Exercise Your Stress Relief –Exercising can be cathartic and release negative feelings – make stress, sadness or disappointment your reason to move!
  8. Make Time – If you prioritise it it will happen.
  • Corinne Austin
  • Movement & Wellness Motivator
  • corinne@fitfixnz.co.nz